"Verify That You Have Good Scotch -- With Lasers":

Even better -- you only need to give up a single drop. The drop of whiskey is placed on a transparent plastic chip. Then two optical fibers are placed in the drop, and the researchers analyze the scattering of light that ensues. As one of the researchers noted, “Whisky turns out to be very interesting: we can not only gather information about the alcohol content, but also the colour and texture. These are dictated by the manufacturing process, which of course influences greatly the type of whisky people enjoy.”

Not sure when the machines can evaluate scotch as accurately as an experienced human taster. But we may reach a "John Henry" moment in scotch tasting sooner than we expect...